China – 7 Days of Flooding Leaves Over 100 Dead and 40 Missing

Several days of heavy rain and flooding in southern and eastern China has left at least 128 people dead and over 40 missing, according to Chinese authorities. Some areas have recorded over 200 mm of rain in 24 hours.

China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs (MCA) says that since 30 June, floods, hail, landslides, mudslides and other disasters have affected the 11 provinces of Jiangsu, Anhui, Jiangxi, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Guangxi, Chongqing, Sichuan, Guizhou and Yunnan.

MCA say that over 1 million people have been relocated, and over half a million others have required emergency assistance. Around 40,000 houses have been destroyed or have collapsed and 248,000 have been damaged. More than 1.5 million hectares of cropland has also been damaged.

MCA estimate that the severe weather has caused direct economic losses of over 38 billion yuan (around 5.7 billion US dollars).

Since 30 June, several daily rainfall records have been broken, including in Macheng (285 mm), Jingmen (273 mm), Jiangxia (263 mm), Zhongxiang (230 mm), Huangpi (227 mm), all in Hubei Province, and Chaohu (293 mm) in Anhui Province, according to a statement by MCA.

Chinese Meteorological Administration (CMA) says that levels of Poyang Lake, Jiangxi Province, which is the largest freshwater lake in China, are now above warning levels and Jiujiang City has initiated a Level IV emergency response.

Forecast

The National Meteorological Centre continued to issue orange category warning of rainstorms. China has a four-tier colour-coded warning system for severe weather, with red being the most serious, followed by orange, yellow and blue.

CMA have forecast further heavy rain for today and tomorrow in several provinces, in particular Hubei, which could see up to 200 mm of rain.

Rain is also expected in Anhui, Jiangsu, northern Hunan, northern and southern Guangxi, western Sichuan Basin, southern Western Sichuan Plateau, northern and southeastern Yunnan and southern Hainan.

Over the next few days, the rain band currently affecting the middle and lower reaches of Yangtze River is expected to move north, gradually reaching the Huaihe River, central and southern Huang-Huai River, Sichuan Basin, and Northwest China.

Typhoon Nepartak

CMA also say that Nepartak, this year’s first typhoon, transformed from a severe tropical storm to a typhoon level earlier today, 05 July 2016, where it was located about 2,000 km away from southeastern Taipei, Taiwan province.

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